Stella Maris

If you are not familiar with silent films, and not likely to see many of them, see this. It is one of the best.

I have the following reasons for putting this film on my top ten silent films: 1. Mary Pickford plays two completely different characters, both excellent performances. 2. Coming out in 1918, at the time of WWI, this film has the poignant subject matter of a girl sheltered from awareness of the cruelty of the world, who later discovers the truth about war and poverty and violence.

In less than an hour and a half, we see the joy of love and the pain of human existence. An existential nutshell... Enjoy....

This is a lovely little film, another Mary Pickford film that has been long available to cherish as an artifact from a long forgotten era beautifully preserved by the Mary Pickford Institute. Most silent fans would perhaps think of Pollyanna, Rebecca or Sparrows as being her best work but I would put this one in there too, not only for her acting but also the production.

She plays Stella Maris - a cripple who has been completely and tenderly shielded from The World by her Uncle and Aunt, so has a few shocks when she's finally able to walk and process information for herself. She convincingly plays Stella Maris complete with pretty curls glistening in soft focus and dripping elegance. She also convincingly plays orphan girl Unity Blake adopted by the man she loves, the more elderly looking and well-chiselled John Risco (Conway Tearle). The problem was of course that rich Risco had previously married a "commoner" with a drink problem – like many in the original cinema audiences perhaps – one of the peripheral familiar messages here being that when the working class is teetotal they're likely to be as faithful as dogs to their masters and mistresses. Even to the death. For the plain girl Unity she plastered her hair with Vaseline and walked lopsided as though she had had to carry children for years – so well that her mother visiting the film set was worried that she was turning into Unity, and also had to tell a worried Adolph Zukor that the character died early in the picture. In fact, these are 2 of Mary's finest performances ever, and in the one film. There's some nice languid photography, sometimes pretty inventive with great tinting throughout, overall engrossing stuff for 1917, and augmented in the Milestone Films release with a fantastic orchestral music score by Phillip Carli.

The 84 minutes are well plotted (even with a couple of large implausibilities, the largest being just how fast and hard the Law dealt with Mrs Risco for her violence) never drag and are additionally clean and decent – would that it could still be the same for these speedier earthier techno times! If you really like silent melodrama you must see this fine romance.

If you have never seen a Pickford film, this Artcraft Production is a perfect introduction to the star's versatile talents. In her dual roles as Stella and Unity she displays a range and depth of emotions hardly seen in films of this era.

Pickford was drawn to this story immediately after screenwriter Frances Marion suggested she read the novel. Pickford's labor of love in getting this book to the screen is evident in every scene. Art Direction and sets are superb--subtle yet surprising and stylish, even smartly humorous at times. It's a fine production throughout and, astonishingly, even the special effects hold up well today.

This is a fine old silent melodrama with an outstanding dual performance by Mary Pickford, certainly one of her greatest accomplishments. The story itself is quite good, and the rest of the cast is solid as well, but it is Pickford who holds your attention from start to finish with a wonderful portrayal of two very different characters.

Both of her characters are wonderful creations, and Pickford's portrayals bring both of them to life convincingly and memorably. Stella and Unity have vastly different appearances, life experiences, and personalities, and Pickford even gives them distinctive mannerisms and expressions. This allows the story to bring them together seamlessly in a plot that itself offers good, thoughtful drama and some good comic moments as well. You quickly come to care for both Stella and Unity in different ways, and feel for them as they learn some often difficult lessons about life.

While probably little-known today, "Stella Maris" is a terrific movie, one of the best of its era. If you enjoy silent films, you'll probably find it well worth the trouble to track down.

Mary Pickford would likely have won that year. If you didn't know that Stella Maris and Unity Blake were played by the same actress, you probably would not guess that they were. Stella Maris has been paralyzed her entire life. Fortunately, her family is wealthy so they can give her the best of care. However, she is still bedridden. Her relatives feel so sorry for her that they keep all bad news from her, and with her only seeing the beauty of nature visible from the spectacular view of her bedroom window, and with her only encountering the kind souls that enter the world that is her room, she has grown to young womanhood knowing nothing of the ugliness of life.

In contrast, Unity Blake is an orphan at an orphanage and is a very plain girl on top of everything. Louisa Risca, a drunken woman with a drug habit to boot, adopts Unity as a servant girl who won't/can't complain about her habits. It's quite touching when Unity first thinks she's getting a mother and instead realizes that instead she is just a servant, and an indentured one at that. The common thread between Unity's and Stella's very different worlds is John Risca (Conway Tearle), husband of Louisa and frequent visitor of Stella Maris. At the insistence of Stella's aunt and uncle, John has never told Stella that his wife is an addict or that he is even married for that matter.

One day, in a drunken rage, Louise beats Unity to the brink of death over a mistake the girl has made in doing the marketing. Not even John's connections can save Louise from doing three years in prison for this deed. Meanwhile, a prominent European surgeon restores Stella's ability to walk and she is now able to explore the world - the whole world - with all of its ugliness as well as its beauty. John Risca makes Unity his ward to compensate in his own way for what his wife has done. Thus Unity, for the first time, gets to see some of the beauty in life. Thus the worlds of these two girls collide with very interesting and powerful results - I'll let you watch and see what happens.

This is very sophisticated story-telling and acting for a 1918 film. If you are disappointed at all, please remember this film was made just three or so years out from a time when comedy mainly consisted of pants kicking fests and drama of maidens being tied to railroad tracks. Of course the greatness of this film lies not only in Mary Pickford's convincing portrayal of two very different people, but in Frances Marion's adapted screenplay, Ms. Marion being one of the great writers for the screen in the silent and early sound eras.